1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operational amplifier (op amp), and more particularly, to an operational amplifier circuit having an adjustable bias current.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The operational amplifier (op amp) is an essential circuit building block of universal importance. A reason for the popularity of the op amp is its versatility; a great amount of operations can be done with op amps. Normally, an operational amplifier circuit is used to drive a load according to an analog input signal. However, if a digital input signal is adopted, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) must be set in the signal input end of the operational amplifier circuit to convert the digital input signal into an analog input signal. The operational amplifier circuit can then drive the load according to the analog input signal. For instance, the liquid crystal display (LCD) source driver is a kind of device that needs to utilize an operational amplifier circuit including a DAC to drive a LCD display unit according to a digital input signal.
In a conventional operational amplifier circuit, some transistors are set as bias current providers for providing bias currents. The control terminals of these transistors are coupled to constant bias voltages; hence the bias currents provided by these transistors have fixed values.
After a conventional operational amplifier circuit is properly installed and supply voltages are provided to the operational amplifier circuit, power will be continually consumed by bias current providers of the operational amplifier circuit. In practice, an operational amplifier circuit is not always under operation, even if supply voltages are provided to the operational amplifier circuit properly. For example, if no signal is inputted into the operational amplifier circuit, the operational amplifier circuit will not be under operation, and no driving operation will be performed by the operational amplifier circuit. However, when the operational amplifier circuit is not under operation, power is still continually consumed by the transistors for providing constant bias currents. In other words, some power will be wasted unnecessarily.